The invention concerns a protective device for tire walls of vehicle tires that comprises at least one holder for attachment of the protective device on the wheel and further comprises protective elements.
Depending on the ground across which the vehicles travel the tire walls are exposed to significant wear. The ground can comprise rocks, stones, scrap metal, slag or the like that cause significant load on the tire walls. Such unfavorable conditions occur for example on dumps where haul trucks, for example, dump trucks, travel. In such applications the tire walls are damaged within a short period of time and have cuts of such a kind that the tires must be changed. For protection of the tires protective tire chains are known that, however, are too complex for such applications. Moreover, such protective tire chains have a very great weight, are expensive, and are difficult to mount and demount. Also, protective tire chains are not suitable for vehicles that travel at higher speeds, for example, 50 km/h, or travel longer distances. In these situations, the protective tire chains wear relatively quickly. Protective tire chains also lead to higher fuel consumption because the tires, when rolling across the chain links, deform greatly (flexing work) and this requires a higher drive power. Also, the great weight of the protective tire chain contributes to higher fuel consumption.
The invention has the object to configure a protective device of the aforementioned kind in such a way that, while being producible in a simple and inexpensive way and mountable in a simple way, it ensures optimal protection of the tire walls, wears only minimally, and leads to a reduced fuel consumption of the vehicle.